James Mangold talks The Wolverine

Where do we find Logan now?

James Mangold has been talking to EW.com about his forthcoming X-Men spin-off, The Wolverine , describing how the story fits in to the rest of the X-Men universe and explaining Logan’s situation when the film begins.

“It’s definitely more [ than just drawing inspiration from the comics ]. A lot of that story and a lot of beats from that saga are in there - and a lot of characters. Without being religious about it, I think it’s a very admiring adaptation.

“Obviously when you’re adapting anything you make some changes. But all the characters are there - Yukio, Viper, Mariko, Shingen, and Logan obviously. The whole cast of characters that exist in that world exists in our film.”

As for the existing movies, Mangold explains that the film will loosely follow on from the original trilogy, but couldn’t be described as a sequel as such.

“It’s set after X-Men 3 , but I wouldn’t call it a sequel to X-Men 3 ,” he says. “I felt it was really important to find Logan at a moment where he was stripped clean of his duties to the X-Men, his other allegiances, and even stripped clean of his own sense of purpose.

“I was fascinated with the idea of portraying Logan as a ronin - the definition of which is a samurai without a master, without a purpose. Kind of a soldier who is cut loose.

“War is over. What does he do? What does he face? What does he believe anymore? Who are his friends? What is his reason for being here anymore? I think those questions are especially interesting when you’re dealing with a character who is essentially immortal.”

Starring Hugh Jackman, Rila Fukushima and Will Yun Lee, The Wolverine opens in the UK on 26 July 2013.